Caption: James Clerk Maxwell (1831--1879), his wife Katherine, and their dog (one supposes) in 1869. Maxwell was the discoverer of classical electromagnetism which is summarized in Maxwell's equations (see Wikipedia: History of electromagnetic theory: Maxwell). Actually, Oliver Heaviside (1850--1925) reformulated Maxwell's equations into the modern set of 4 (see Wikipedia: Oliver Heaviside: Innovations and discoveries).

That background looks phony. I bet they are standing in a photographic studio. Maybe the dog is phony too.

Long exposures were often needed for 19th century photography. So people had to assume a relaxed spaced-out expression that they could hold still for many minutes. Could dogs do that? Maybe it's a stuffed dog. Maybe Maxwell had his dog stuffed as keepsake.

Look, if photo is NOT an early snapshot, then it was taken in a photographic studio since the background seascape is NOT blurred---case closed.

Maxwell died relatively young. I wonder what he would have done had he lived another 20 or 30 years. He was such a brilliant fellow. Would he have beaten Einstein to special relativity?

By the by, Maxwell studied the rings of Saturn (see Wikipedia: Marischal College, Aberdeen, 1856--1860), and so qualifies as a theoretical astronomer though astronomy was NOT his main focus in scientific research.

Maxwell also proposed the first practical color photography process in 1855 (see Wikipedia: History of photography: Color process).

Credit/Permission: Anonymous photographer, 1869 / Public domain.
Image link: Wikipedia: File:JamesClerkMaxwell-KatherineMaxwell-1869.jpg.
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